It is a perception — as old as Bill Russell and as current as Skip Gates — that successful, professional-class blacks will find more hostility than welcome in the Hub.

The Cure incident also caused heartburn for city leaders. With two major black conferences coming to Boston this summer, they hope to prove how far Boston has come in terms of race relations. The Urban League conference in July and Blacks in Government (BIG) the next month are expected to bring a combined 13,000 visitors to the city — breaking what has been, in effect, a quarter-century boycott of Boston. If something like the Cure incident were to happen during those conferences, it could do exactly the opposite, setting the city back years.

"We thought Boston was ready for an opportunity," says BIG president J. David Reeves. "Things have changed over the past 20 or 30 years."

Not only has the city changed, but Boston's black leadership is changing, too: from the "old guard" who emerged first from the busing and other civil-rights struggles, and then from the drugs and crime problems of the 1980s and '90s, to a generation whose political savvy and inclusive outlook just might help Boston to finally make room for a vibrant black middle class.

Two important, and symbolic, parts of that transition happened within the past month. In the Boston City Council chamber, Ayanna Pressley and Felix Arroyo Jr. — a 35-year-old African American and 30-year-old Latino, both in their first year of public office — joined nine of their colleagues to expel long-time civil-rights and community activist Chuck Turner from office, in the wake of his conviction on federal corruption charges. It was seen by many as a shift from old us-versus-them black leadership (which includes Charles Yancey, Turner's lone supporting vote), to new leaders ready to do the right thing for the city.

And the Boston Chapter of the NAACP elected 42-year-old Michael Curry over former state senator Bill Owens to be its next president. Curry, who ran with a slate of candidates as "a new generation of leadership," is expected to make the old, increasingly forgotten organization a much stronger partner across racial lines in the city.

These transitions are not without controversy within the city's black community. There are many who have railed against Pressley and Arroyo for betraying Turner, and by implication their side of the racial divide. Many resisted Curry's election, and he was elected by a slim margin in a contentious vote.

But many others see both developments as signs of a much-needed shift toward a leadership better attuned to the problems that keep black talent out of Boston — and much better equipped to work within the system to bring about changes.

Tough crowdCity leaders — in business, government, academia, and elsewhere — increasingly understand that in the 21st century, a city's success depends upon attracting and keeping bright, educated talent of all demographics. That means making the city livable and comfortable for professionals who are gay, female, or members of a racial minority.

Kids In The Hall Boston City Hall politics, normally a year-round spectator sport, was largely overshadowed this year by state and national campaigns. With the attention off, a surprising amount of activity has been going on — not in the mayor's office, but down the corridor in the Boston City Council.

Review: The Help As it turns out, according to Tate Taylor's adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's bestseller, the Jim Crow era was not due to centuries of institutionalized racism, but to Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) and her hang-up about "colored" servants going to the bathroom.

Ghazal Fine Indian Cuisine Years ago, I brought a date to Boston's oldest Indian restaurant (the bygone Kebab-n-Kurry), promising, "The food's great, but the servers are the surliest bunch you've ever seen — so sullen it's hilarious!"

Racism in real estate After more than a decade in the business, the real-estate agent knew that many landlords had very narrow ideas about whom they did and didn't want living in their apartments and houses. Most of them were fairly subtle about it. "I want the right people," they might say, being careful to couch their instructions in innocuous-sounding terms.

Black History Month lands on City Hall Members of Boston's Black Ministerial Alliance might resent New Black Panther Party soldier Jamarhl Crawford for his persistently blasting them as crooks and opportunists.

Wanting more After its triumphant traversal of the complete Béla Bartók string quartets at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Borromeo Quartet was back for a free 20th- and 21st-century program at Jordan Hall, leading off with an accomplished recent piece by the 24-year-old Egyptian composer Mohammed Fairuz, Lamentation and Satire.

Fourth-estate follies, 2009 edition Between the rise of the Web, the ADD-addling of America, the fragmentation of any national political consensus, and the devastated economy, working in the press can feel a bit like manning the Titanic — and this year, the entire industry seemed to teeter on the edge of oblivion.

MRS. WARREN GOES TO WASHINGTON | March 21, 2013 Elizabeth Warren was the only senator on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, aside from the chair and ranking minority, to show up at last Thursday's hearing on indexing the minimum wage to inflation.

MARCH MADNESS | March 12, 2013 It's no surprise that the coming weekend's Saint Patrick's Day celebrations have become politically charged, given the extraordinary convergence of electoral events visiting South Boston.

LABOR'S LOVE LOST | March 08, 2013 Steve Lynch is winning back much of the union support that left him in 2009.

AFTER MARKEY, GET SET, GO | February 20, 2013 It's a matter of political decorum: when an officeholder is running for higher office, you wait until the election has been won before publicly coveting the resulting vacancy.